This is the first installment in my “Route Highlight” series, where I will be identifying some pretty interesting and unique aviation routes around the world. If you have any suggestions for a specific route that I should highlight, feel free to leave it down in the comments.
Now with that out of the way… First up:
Windhoek, Namibia (WDH) – Frankfurt, Germany (FRA)
Hold up. Lets take a look at that livery one more time…
In my opinion, thats one of the best tails that I’ve ever seen. For comparison, heres Namibia’s flag.
This flight is operated daily by one of Air Namibia’s 2 Airbus a330-200 aircraft. As it stands, it is the airline’s sole long-haul flight, so its entire wide-body fleet is dedicated to a single route. The rest of the airline’s services consist of domestic and intra-African operations to the following destinations:
Domestic:
- Luderitz
- Oranjemund
- Walvis Bay
International:
- Cape Town, South Africa
- Durban, South Africa
- Frankfurt, Germany
- Gaborone, Botswana
- Harare, Zimbabwe
- Johannesburg, South Africa
- Luanda, Angola
- Lusaka, Zambia
- Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
While the seat-map is not listed on Seatguru, I did some digging and found that the airline equips their a330’s with 244 total seats, 30 of which are in business class. Air Namibia offers fully flat seats in the front of the plane, which is quite good for maintaining a single long haul route.
Down at the back of the plane, the airline offers personal entertainment devices (PED’s) to all customers, and arranges their seats in a 2-4-2 configuration. Honestly that looks pretty good for economy, and is basically all you can really ask for on an A330-200.
Now I have to admit… I sort of fell in love with this airline. I’ve actually flown with them roundtrip on one of their shorter routes between Windhoek (WDH) and Cape Town (CPT). I am definitely interested in trying more of their flights if the opportunity presents itself, especially because it would eliminate a transit through JNB when traveling from North American to Namibia.
If you have the opportunity to visit the country, take it. Skip South Africa and head to Namibia if you are looking for a world-class safari. In addition, the city itself (Windhoek) is beautiful, clean, and safe while the people are fantastic and wonderfully hospitable. A mere 2 hour flight from both JNB and CPT to WDH, you’ll see some of the most beautiful wildlife and nature in the world. You can even fly directly into Walvis Bay (WVB) from both JNB and CPT on Air Namibia if you want to head straight to the ocean.
Looks familiar right?
Have you flown with Air Namibia? How was your experience?
Route Guide 